November 16, 2021

CHAIRMAN JEFFRIES: “THE BIPARTISAN INFRASTRUCTURE AGREEMENT IS A WIN FOR THE AMERICAN PEOPLE”

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, House Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), Vice Chair Pete Aguilar (D-CA) and Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-NY) held a leadership press conference where they highlighted the critical investments in the historic Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act as well as House Democrats’ continued work to drive President Biden’s Build Back Better Act across the finish line. 

CHAIRMAN JEFFRIES: We had a very productive Caucus meeting earlier today. Most importantly, we had an incredibly productive day for the American people yesterday. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Agreement is now the law of the land. That's a great thing for the American people. It's a great thing for the economy. It's a great thing for the Build Back Better Agenda.

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Agreement will create millions of good-paying jobs for everyday Americans all across this great country: in the North, the South, the East and the West, in urban America, suburban America, rural America, small-town America, exurban America and Appalachia. It's not a win for Democrats or a loss for Republicans, as some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle seem to want to frame this tremendous progress for the American people. It's a win for America, delivered with great leadership from President Joe Biden and House Democrats and Senate Democrats partnering in a bipartisan way with a handful of our colleagues on the other side of the aisle.

There are approximately 100,000 structurally deficient bridges in America that could crumble or collapse at any moment. That's just one example of why this historic investment in fixing our crumbling infrastructure will be so significant for the American people. The jobs that are being created as a result of passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Agreement cannot be outsourced to Mexico or to China, or to other parts of Southeast Asia. These are good-paying American jobs. That's a win for the American people.

We look forward to continuing our work as we advance the Build Back Better Act and, hopefully, a handful of Republicans in the House may be inclined to be supportive. That remains to be seen, but as we advance the Build Back Better Act at some point before we depart, we are going to create additional good-paying jobs for everyday Americans. We're going to cut taxes for working families and middle-class families and low-income families. We're going to lower costs in health care, particularly by driving down the high cost of life-saving prescription drugs, cut child care costs, cut housing costs and implement universal pre-K for three- and four-year-olds all across the country and, in doing so, cut early childhood education costs as well. Those will be additional wins for the American people delivering on President Biden's promise to Build Back Better.

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VICE CHAIR AGUILAR: As the Chairman mentioned, yesterday we were pleased to join our colleagues, including some on the other side of the aisle, on the South Lawn as the president signed the Infrastructure Bill, the American Jobs Bill. We're so thankful for his leadership, and we're so thankful to be able to go back to our communities and to answer the question that they give to us all the time, which is when are you going to get this done? When are you going to do something to help our communities?

Time and time again, House Democrats have been delivering. That's what we did yesterday. Investments, as the Chairman mentioned, in crumbling bridges and roads, investments in California in our water systems, reducing our carbon footprint and addressing global supply chain issues by handling the goods movement through the ports of Long Beach and LA.

These are things that are going to help California, things are going to help our country, and that's why we're so pleased to be able to go back to our communities and tell them we're doing our best to create good-paying jobs in this country. As the Chairman mentioned, jobs that can't be outsourced, jobs that have to be done here in our communities.

But our work isn't done. And so that's what we continue to do, is to lay the groundwork and to pass the next piece of the president's agenda, the Build Back Better Agenda, that will reduce taxes for working parents, continue to address climate change, make investments in child care and care giving. Those are the things that our communities want to see. Collectively, that's what the president campaigned on and that's what we've committed to deliver. And so, I look forward to working with my colleagues to get this done.

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REP. MALONEY: What I want tell you is that yesterday was a good day for the United States of America. And if you're rooting against this jobs bill, you are rooting against America. When Democrats deliver, we are delivering for America, and when the other side complains about it, they're rooting against America.

This is not a Democratic win. This is a Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill that will grow our economy and provide millions of good-paying jobs for our families. Of course, our work began earlier this year with the American Rescue Plan which quite literally saved the American economy. Millions of small businesses and their employees are in business and working today because of that effort. It also put hundreds of millions of shots in the arms of Americans, which is helping to end the pandemic. And we have this week, of course, the most important investments in our families and our people since the New Deal and we will get that done. And together, that will form a record of results for the United States and all of our people that Democrats will be proud to share with our constituents and with those who have doubted whether this government can still work.

So I want to thank the President for his extraordinary leadership. I want to thank the Speaker and our Majority Leader and our Whip for delivering these wins. I thank the gentlemen behind me for doing it.

What I can tell you is that some of you have heard me call on the White House to go out and sell this package to the American people and tell the American people what we're doing. We want to do our part. And so, this morning, we were discussing with our colleagues a new effort where you will see every member of the Democratic Caucus go out and do five events telling the American people what we're doing in this package. There will be 1000 events between now and the end of the year and describing why this work that we have now completed on the infrastructure bill, and will soon complete on the Build Back Better Act, will give people a better country, give them more breathing room for their families and a future they can look forward to.

We are going to stick together. We are going to get it done. We're going to tell them we did it and we are going to tell them who the other side is. And with those four parts of the strategy, we are going to tackle the toughest problems that face the American people and we want people to know what we're doing.  

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Video of the full press conference and Q&A can be viewed here.